Steve and I were both surprised to discover that out of all the amazing places we visited, Spain 
was our favorite! Especially Barcelona, it is such a nice, beautiful city. Our first night in Barcelona we went to a flamenco show at Tablao de Carmen in the Poble Espanyol. It was so amazing, and a perfect Spanish experience to begin our time in Spain. The dancers were so much fun to watch, and we got a dinner of Spanish tapas to enjoy during the show.
The next day we explored the giant Montjuic Park, including the Montjuic castle. We went to the Olympic Village and soccer stadium, and then found a great 
outdoor cafe to have lunch way up on a cliff with a view of the city and ocean. After lunch we headed to the main street, Las Ramblas, which was filled with vendors and street performers. Then we wandered around the Gothic Quarter, which is full of really interesting architecture. As it got closer to dinner time (which doesn't even begin until 8:00 in Spain), we were seeing TONS of restaurants, most of them pretty empty, and then we came upon this long line of people outside a building. Since I always assume if people are lining up for something it must be good and I need to join them, we checked it out and discovered that they were all lining up for a restaurant that wasn't even opening for 20 more minutes. So of course, we got in line too! And we were so glad 
we did! The restaurant is called La Fonda (if you ever go to Barcelona, go here!) and it's right off of Las Ramblas in the Gothic Quarter. It is very fancy, upscale dining, but the price was maybe the cheapest we paid anywhere on our trip! I guess it's run by a culinary school or something like that, which is how they cut costs, but it absolutely had the feel (and taste) of a very expensive restaurant. We were really happy to have stumbled upon such a good find!
outdoor cafe to have lunch way up on a cliff with a view of the city and ocean. After lunch we headed to the main street, Las Ramblas, which was filled with vendors and street performers. Then we wandered around the Gothic Quarter, which is full of really interesting architecture. As it got closer to dinner time (which doesn't even begin until 8:00 in Spain), we were seeing TONS of restaurants, most of them pretty empty, and then we came upon this long line of people outside a building. Since I always assume if people are lining up for something it must be good and I need to join them, we checked it out and discovered that they were all lining up for a restaurant that wasn't even opening for 20 more minutes. So of course, we got in line too! And we were so glad 
we did! The restaurant is called La Fonda (if you ever go to Barcelona, go here!) and it's right off of Las Ramblas in the Gothic Quarter. It is very fancy, upscale dining, but the price was maybe the cheapest we paid anywhere on our trip! I guess it's run by a culinary school or something like that, which is how they cut costs, but it absolutely had the feel (and taste) of a very expensive restaurant. We were really happy to have stumbled upon such a good find!The next day we headed to the beach. It was a little overcast, but Barcelona has a great beach area, better than the French Riviera in my opinion. The beach is set away from any main streets,
and has a large boardwalk area with cafes, bathrooms with showers, etc. Just a really good set up. We hung out for several hours. The only thing that took away from the experience were the multitudes of people trying to sell stuff! It seemed like every 2 minutes we had someone in our face trying to sell us henna tattoos, or beers, or the worst, massages. Seriously, these asian women walking up and down the beach offering massages for 5 euros were so aggresive it was scary. And it was constant, as soon as one walked away, another one was right there. But other than that, it was a nice day at the beach ;)
and has a large boardwalk area with cafes, bathrooms with showers, etc. Just a really good set up. We hung out for several hours. The only thing that took away from the experience were the multitudes of people trying to sell stuff! It seemed like every 2 minutes we had someone in our face trying to sell us henna tattoos, or beers, or the worst, massages. Seriously, these asian women walking up and down the beach offering massages for 5 euros were so aggresive it was scary. And it was constant, as soon as one walked away, another one was right there. But other than that, it was a nice day at the beach ;)
We waited in line for a long time that afternoon before finally getting into Barcelona's cathedral, La Sagrada Família. I have to be honest, I think if I had known what I was in for, I wouldn't have waited. I knew it was still under construction, but I didn't realize how far from complete is really was. Basically we paid 12 euros a piece to walk around a construction site. The outside is cool to see though, I don't really personally like the style of the cathedral, but it is really elaborate and worth checking out. For our last Barcelona activity, we finally found the Gaudi building Steve had been looking for the whole time we were there! Glad we didn't miss it!
We only had one day in Madrid, and would have liked to spend more time 
there. It is a really pretty city also, much greener than I expected. It was a rainy day when we were there, but we still had fun exploring. First we went to the Plaza Major, and then the cathedral and palace. We spent most of the day at the Prado Museum, which was a really amazing museum! It had a lot of works by Velázquez and Caravaggio, who I really like, and a lot of crazy Goya stuff.
there. It is a really pretty city also, much greener than I expected. It was a rainy day when we were there, but we still had fun exploring. First we went to the Plaza Major, and then the cathedral and palace. We spent most of the day at the Prado Museum, which was a really amazing museum! It had a lot of works by Velázquez and Caravaggio, who I really like, and a lot of crazy Goya stuff. We definitely hope to return to Spain someday. When we got home, we even started looking for internships Steve could do for law school to spend a few months there! To see all of our Spain pictures, click HERE. 
0 comments:
Post a Comment